Staff Profile

Career Summary

Biography

After obtaining her PhD in Neuroscience in 1992 from the University Louis-Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, Dr. Estelle Sontag undertook postdoctoral training and was promoted in 2003 to the rank of Associate Professor of Pathology at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, TX, a top-ranked Medical school in the USA. Since 2009, she is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Health, School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Dr. Sontag is internationally recognized in the field of protein phosphatase 2A, having made several significant contributions to the field by unveiling the role of this major enzyme in signal transduction, viral-mediated cell transformation and neurodegeneration (h-index 26; >3000 citations). Over the years, her work has provided novel fundamental insights into the role of PP2A in the regulation of growth signaling pathways (Cell, 1993; EMBO J., 1997), cell adhesion (J. Cell Biol., 2002; J Virol 2003) and cytoskeletal proteins (J. Cell Biol., 1995; Neuron, 1996; J. Neurochem 2007; J. Biol. Chem., 2012). Current research is focused more specifically on studying the regulation and role of PP2A methylation, with an emphasis on its role in tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease (J Neuropath Exp Neur. 2004; J. Neurochem 2010; J. Neuroscience 2007, 2008, 2012; J. Biol. Chem., 2012, 2013; Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 2014), in collaboration with many international researchers.

Dr. Sontag is regularly invited as speaker at national and international meetings. She is also a member of international journal editorial and grant reviewing boards.